Buffalo, NY – The D'Youville men's volleyball team went 1-1 on Saturday as they hosted the NEAC Crossover, defeating the Wells Express 3-0 and falling to the SUNY Poly Wildcats 3-0.

The Spartans played very well in their first match of the day against Wells. Tightly contested throughout, D'Youville won in three sets 27-25, 25-23 and 25-22. In the first set, the Spartans never trailed. They went up 20-12 over the Express before Wells came storming back and tied it at 24-24. It became tied again at 25-25, but D'Youville would go on to win 27-25.

In the second set, it was tied 16-16 until Wells went on to take a three-point lead at 21-18. D'Youville would then rally, scoring seven of the next nine points to take the second set 25-23. The third set was similar in that the Express led midway through the set, this time 18-15. However the Spartans would again come back to take a 19-18 lead and then continued their hot streak to go on to win the third set 25-22 and the match 3-0.

Collin McMahon (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) recorded a game high 38 assists in the match. Pat Stroh (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) added a match high 19 kills as well, paired with his seven digs. Both Ryan Kilijanski (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) and Zach Bochacki (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) had four blocks.

James Zeiger (Lancaster, NYLancaster) tied Stroh for the team lead in digs with seven, while Logan Krass (Oswego, NY/Oswego) was second on the team with seven kills. Karl Jauch (Lockport, NY/Starpoint) added four kills, with Chance MacDowell (Bloomfield, NY/Bloomfield) recording three digs.

In the second match of the day, SUNY Poly defeated the Spartans in three sets, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-14. The Wildcats took control of the match early. They worked to build a 12-3 lead in the first set, but the Spartans closed the gap to four at 19-15. However it was too late as SUNY Poly went on to win the first by the score of 25-20.

The second set of the match began with D'Youville leading at 8-5 before the Wildcats would applied some pressure. They tied the set at 12-12 and then went on to open up a seven-point lead at 21-14. SUNY Poly continued to push on through the end of the second and would win by the final score of 25-17.

D'Youville fell behind to the Wildcats 7-3 in the third set, looking to stay in the match. The Spartans stayed in the set before SUNY Poly blew the game open by scoring 9 of 10 points in the third to take a 23-12 lead. The Wildcats would close out the match with their final two points, going on to win the set 25-14 and the match 3-0.  

Five Spartans recorded at least two kills in the match, led by Stroh with nine. Kilijanski added seven and a team high four service aces. He also tied Stroh and MacDowell for the team lead in digs with four. McMahon again led the team in assists with 20.

The men will conclude their season tomorrow, April 2 at 2pm as they play Keuka.